The hourlong farewell episode was easily the highest-rated show of the night in the 18-49 category and was second in overall viewership to ABC's"Dancing With the Stars," which averaged 13.7 million total viewers.

The comedy has delivered strong numbers for CBS over its nine seasons and has spawned an upcoming spinoff called "How I Met Your Dad" starring Greta Gerwig.

CBS used the much-anticipated closer to launch the new "Friends With Better Lives," which pulled in about 8 million viewers and a rating of 2.7 in 18-49. "Mom" and "Intelligence" were both up week-to-week.

On NBC, "The Voice" fell 8% from a week ago to a 3.4, while "The Blacklist" was flat at 2.8. On average, NBC was the night's highest-rated network.

The tight-knit group of friends shared a series of long-running jokes, nicknames and catchphrases during the CBS sitcom's nine-season run. Here's a look back at the main cast of characters we met before the mother. By Nardine Saad, Los Angeles Times

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The Bible, it is rigorously and rightly observed in "The Good Book," flows through American culture like blood. No question. If you wanted to simplify the nation's most persistent schism, you could do a lot worse than to argue that the interpretation of biblical precepts is at its core. The...